


light the way

by DJ Jiggle Juice (babytobin_horse)



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 07:27:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4339370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babytobin_horse/pseuds/DJ%20Jiggle%20Juice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's hard being a Bella, especially if you're Beca Mitchell and Chloe Beale and your a capella group is a bit of a disgrace to Americans everywhere.</p><p>or pp2 through the eyes of Beca and Chloe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	light the way

**Author's Note:**

> I'm always posting stories late at night, huh? Maybe that's my thing. Anyway, this idea occurred to me after reading Blow a Kiss, Fire a Gun (We All Need Someone to Lean On) by wherehopelies (go check it out if you haven't already it's a great read). I literally went through the movie and got specific quotes for this fic it was a struggle y'all omg. But anyway, I hope I didn't do too poorly at this, and I know it's long but I hope you like it enough to read it all the way through :)  
> PS: Sorry if there are any errors, I only skimmed through it before posting and I don't have a beta!

In her three years of being a Barden Bella and two years of helping captain this team to flawless performances with mixes that “created the new Bella sound,” Beca never dreamed anything going down like this.

They’re all frozen in place, music gone and the tech guy in the booth struggling to hit the right buttons. Amy’s suspended in mid air and clinging on to the silk she was just previously sitting on. The whole Kennedy Center - no, the whole world - is unsure what to do because Fat Amy’s costume ripped in the most awkward part and she’s wearing no underwear. Beca shouldn’t be surprised by this information, but they’re performing for the _President of the United States._

Beca squeezes her eyes shut as the rest of the crowd gasps and covers their eyes when Fat Amy flashes everyone with her front side. This is actually unbelievable. It’s so crazy that it’s almost laughable, and she stifles a laugh, unable to help herself.

It stops when she looks across the stage and sees Chloe staring at Fat Amy in horror. The redhead’s body is shaking unlike Beca’s ever seen it before. There’s complete horror on her face and it’s pretty evident she could burst into tears in any given moment.

Beca stops laughing because this look on Chloe kind of scares her. A lot.

They’re definitely in deep shit.

\--

Chloe hasn’t left the Bella House since they returned to Barden University a few days prior to orientation. She always hoped the Bellas would find themselves on TV, but never like this. They were the laughing stock of the whole country and it was all at Fat Amy’s hand. Or well, you know. _That_ part of her.

Everyone’s taken their turn in attempts to talk to Chloe nothing’s worked. Beca tried to calm her down right after the performance. Chloe was too much in a state of shock to listen to anything she said, instead opting for hyperventilating and crying instead. Fat Amy apologizes for the fact the world wasn’t ready to handle all her glory. Stacie offers to take her on her latest conquest for the Hunter’s new prey, promising they can find Chloe someone too. Cynthia Rose offers a night of drinking in the house, just Bellas. Jessica and Ashley don’t really provide much help. Flo says some nonsense that makes Chloe want to wonder if it’s really legal for her to be a Bella. Lily whispers something she doesn’t try to understand.

Nothing works. Even when Beca keeps trying. Offering to take her out to eat or go watch the new romantic comedy - she swears it’s stupid but claims Chloe was just raving on and on about it before they went to DC - but not even Beca’s attempts were enough. And that says something. Chloe’s always willing to do anything with Beca.

The Dean sends out an email to all the Barden Bellas, informing them of a meeting he’s scheduled with them as well as the representatives of the acapella association. It’s the only thing that gets Chloe to willingly leave the sanctuary of the Bella House. So she puts on her blue polka dot dress, dumps her phone, wallet and other necessities into her black purse and walks out of the house with Amy and Flo on either side of her.

The longer they’re waiting, the more Chloe feels the need to pace. All the other Bellas are seated along the wall, not saying a word. It’s the silence that’s really doing it for the redhead; it makes her even more anxious than she was the minute before. Finally, it’s no other than Beca that tries to calm her down. Really, Chloe should be touched that Beca’s the one that’s speaking up, but honestly her nonchalant attitude about the whole issue is only making it worse.

It especially doesn’t help when Beca suggests it’s time to think about “other things.”

“This group _is_ my life! I’ve intentionally failed Russian lit three times so I could be a Bella!” Chloe exclaims in panic. “This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to us,” she goes on, taking a seat. “Ever.”

Flo turns to her, saying some nonsense about diarrhea - to which they all just look at her with a mix of confusion and disgust. Before anyone can get another word, an old woman walks out.

“The Dean is ready for you tramps.”

Throughout this whole discussion, Chloe’s frustrated with just how calm - or well, as “calm” as she can get - Beca is about the whole situation. Granted, Beca didn’t even plan on joining the Bellas in the first place. But three years has to be worth something, right?

Chloe’s just trying not to cry as they continue to discuss the future of the group. She tries not to read into the fact Beca’s hand on her arm helps immensely. Just like Beca standing by her side and arguing with these idiots makes Chloe feel slightly better.

She’s just about to give up when she finishes skimming through the details of their God forsaken punishment and comes up with an idea.

“Hold on, there’s nothing in here that strips us of our national title, and if we’re still reigning champs we’re automatically invited to represent America in the World Championships this Spring.”

Next to her, Beca’s eyes widen and Chloe gives her a side glance. The wheels in the small brunette’s mind are turning and Chloe’s eyes hold a hint of excitement as she watches it all piece together in Beca’s mind. John and Gale are telling them how going won’t help them here at all when Beca speaks up.

“What if we win it?” Her head tilts slightly and her navy eyes are looking at them with such determination Chloe bites down her smile.

This practically sets the two adults seated across from them into a hysteria, making Beca clench her jaw in a way Chloe’s learned means she’s pissed off. Chloe can all but hold her breath and glare at the two for being assholes.

“If we win, will you reinstate us?”

There’s a spark of hope that ignites inside of Chloe as Beca asks them. She bites her lip, trying to contain her excitement at the prospect of restoring the Bellas.

“Sure,” Gale says, laughing.

Chloe’s eyes are wide and she opens her mouth to say something, but the blonde woman continues.

“but no Americans have ever won.”

Then John goes on, explaining how the rest of the countries in the world hate the USA, but Chloe’s no longer listening. She turns to look at Beca, no longer trying to fight the smile off her face. The smaller girl looks at her with a hint of a smirk on her lips and a quirk of her eyebrow.

With Beca Mitchell by her side, Chloe feels like she can do anything.

\--

She’s about to walk away from Jesse and into her first day at her internship when she turns around, grimacing.

“Dude, why do I feel guilty? I’ve given a lot to the Bellas, right? It’s like...three years of my life,” Beca reasons.

So yeah, Beca hasn’t told any of the Bellas about her internship. Those girls are like her sisters at this point, but she just didn’t think it was the right time. With the Kennedy Center incident and now Worlds, she just can’t find the appropriate moment to tell them “hey I know we need to win this or else the Bellas are done, but I have an internship that could lead to my career after college!”

When Jesse reasons that it’s totally fine, Beca believes him because he’s Jesse and he’s, well, reasonable. That’s enough for her to get into the building without looking back.

She’s only been at her internship for one day but she missed out on Chloe buying them all tickets to Copenhagen, and apparently adding a new Bella. A Legacy, according to Chloe’s text, which is apparently a thing in the a capella world. Honestly, a long day at the record company’s left her beat. She wants to crawl into her bed at the Bella house and fall asleep, or wait for all the girls to return and laugh at just how drunk Chloe gets before letting her fall under the covers with her.

It’s strange, really, how accustomed Beca has grown to having Chloe constantly close. If there are two things Beca likes the most it’s silence and personal space. Chloe doesn’t understand either of those. Beca keeps her around anyway. She lets Chloe talk her ear of when she’s excited or upset and everything in between. She often falls asleep with Chloe cuddled up next to her, either on the couch during a Netflix marathon or in a bed (that one took awhile for her to be okay with). She lets Chloe hug her way too much for her liking, and too many times Chloe’s been caught lying her head in Beca’s lap. It should honestly scare Beca that she’s let Chloe break so many barriers (arguably more than her own boyfriend), but she wasn’t afraid at all. It’s Chloe Beale - loud, bubbly, lovable Chloe who could make anyone smile with her stupid blue eyes and white smile.

When she arrives at the Trebles’ party, she mumbles a quick greeting before leaning in to plant a kiss on Jesse’s lips because, well, it’s just an automatic notion by now. She doesn’t even have a chance to think about how it should or shouldn’t be automatic because Jesse’s already asking her about her first day.

“Eye opening,” she says, eyes wide as she shifts in her seat. “Yeah, they do not mess around.”

“Hey, Chloe asked where you were. Why didn’t you tell her?”

Beca blinks, surprised by the sudden question. She has to think of something quick. “Oh, she’s just...She’s like locked in her own little world right now and I’m just looking for the right time. I’ll tell her," she manages to say with a dismissive wave.

It’s giving her a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. Maybe her best friend deserved to know, but she’d go insane knowing that there was something else taking Beca’s attention. The problem with Chloe is she’s so focused on the Bellas anything else is secondary. That’s going to bite the redhead in the ass one day, and Beca’s just trying to keep the harmony for as long as she can.

She’ll tell Chloe later. Right now, she wants to enjoy her last Treble welcome party with her favorite girls.

And dancing and laughing with drunk Chloe makes her want to enjoy the peace between them a little longer.

\--

Chloe’s on a mission. She must destroy the stupid Germans that stole their victory tour, but as she watches them on stage she realizes they’ve got so much to do if they want to beat them. Everything happening on stage has Chloe’s eyes and ears going everywhere, jaw clenched throughout the whole performance. She allows the girls to politely clap at the end, but just as she and Beca are about to guide the girls out, Das Sound Machine is making their way over.

It’s fine for the most part (if you exclude the tension and the fact these Germans are literally towering over all the girls), but then they’re insulting Fat Amy and Beca opens her stupid mouth in attempt at an insult.

“You are physically flawless,” she stutters, eyeing the blonde with wide eyes.

“Thank you.”

“but it doesn’t mean I like you,” Beca adds.

Chloe’s eyebrows furrow as she stares at Beca. What the actual fuck is happening here? She opens her mouth to say something to Beca, but thinks better of it, instead talking to the Germans in attempt to do some damage control for Beca’s...word vomit?

After another few torturous minutes of back and forth between Fat Amy and the tall guy and a warning from the blonde, they’re finally being freed of Das Sound Machine’s presence. Chloe thinks they’re in the clear, but then Beca opens her mouth again.

“Just because you’re making me sexually confused doesn’t mean that you are intimidating!” Beca calls out to them. Chloe’s jaw actually drops this time, her hand touching Beca’s shoulder in attempt to get her to shut up. It doesn’t work. “We have nothing to lose! Literally nothing!”

“Okay,” Chloe tries again, in attempt to get Beca to stop talking.

“Aca-wiedersehen bitches!” Beca continues, doing hand motions with her goodbye. “Oh what is happening to me? Why am I using my hands so much?”

Chloe wonders how she’s managed to fall in love with an idiot. She’d find this whole ordeal cute if said idiot wasn’t flustered over their tall blonde enemy.

\--

Beca’s exhausted. Between the internship and Bella practices and classes she seems to be left with no energy to do anything else at all. Chloe’s pushing them all to go harder and be better than they’ve ever been before. She admires the redhead’s determination, but God would it be so bad to back off a little? The last time she had fun was when they did the full assessment of the girls. It was spontaneous and fun and Beca kinda liked watching Chloe let loose. She was most beautiful that way; those moments that Chloe let the music consume her were times Beca lives for.

But more important things are on Beca’s mind right now. Her boss wants to hear her samples. She’d left the studio squealing in a way she’d deny if anyone else claimed to hear. This is perfect - she’s possibly on the way to launching into the career she’s dreamed so long of! She wants to call Chloe as soon as she could, but then stops herself. Chloe doesn’t even know about this internship. Beca ignores the way she hasn’t even thought to tell Jesse the good news.

She’s still contemplating what mixes she should burn for her boss when she peeps through the window. Are the girls...oh. They’re having a pillow fight? Beca raises an eyebrow, picks up an envelope on the porch and walks in.

“What am I looking at?” she demands, giving them an unimpressed look.

“PILLOW FIGHTING!” Fat Amy screams, hitting her with a pillow.

“Ah,” Beca frowns, holding her arm. “You know this sets women back like thirty years.”

“We’re just relieving some stress!” Chloe explains, still jumping up and down, pillow in hand.

Beca quickly looks down, realizing Chloe Beale isn’t wearing pants. “This was on the porch,” she says hurriedly, holding up the envelope.

“Ooh,” Chloe coos, maneuvering around pajama-clad Bellas and fluffy pillows to land in front of Beca. “What is that?” she asks, taking the envelope from her.

Beca stays quiet. Yeah, Chloe’s definitely not wearing pants. Would it be so hard for her to wear shorts? She’s broken out of her thoughts when the envelope in Chloe’s hands makes a weird noise. They look at each other, then Chloe opens it again and her eyebrow does that half raise that Beca finds adorable. Wait, no. Not adorable. Nope.

She’s in the middle of this internal debate while everyone else discusses the invitation, but they all stop and give Lilly a weird look when she mumbles something Beca’s not even sure she wants to repeat. As the strange girl begins another round of pillow fights, Chloe turns back around and gives Beca a smile and a slight raise of her eyebrows before inspecting the invitation one more time.

Beca’s standing there wondering how such a small gesture can make her inside all warm.

\--

Chloe’s furious. She’s in some weird bald guy’s basement with other acapella groups and DSM totally thinks they’re the better group. It was already frustrating enough when she had to physically drag Beca away from the tall blonde as the small girl screamed idiotic compliments. She isn’t even sure if she should be pissed at Beca’s constant ogling over the blonde or just embarrassed at what was coming out of her mouth.

Then, Jesse appears out of nowhere meaning the rest of the Trebles are around and Beca gets this look of slight relief when she sees him. It makes Chloe’s shoulder drop a little and her face fall ever so slightly. He seems to know what’s going on which only annoys the redhead because even though the feud between the Bellas and Treblemakers is over, deep down Chloe still has a twinge of hate left for them. That may or may not be because Jesse’s dating Beca.

The night manages to get a little bit better though when it’s revealed that they’re at a riff-off. Riff-offs are sort of their thing - not to brag - and she figures they can handle it because there’s been way too many times in the Bella house they end up going off on a medley of songs. It’s just so easy when she has Beca singing next to her. They’re looking at each other as Stacie sings and Chloe’s insides feel lighter than they were a few minutes ago. Then Beca sings and Chloe ends up slightly flustered because wow Beca Mitchell singing Before He Cheats is really attractive.

So Chloe figures things are going to be okay. They can totally handle DSM in the end. And then Emily fucks up and starts singing that original song she sang for them the night she knocked on the Bella door. She sees the looks on the German’s faces and it immediately puts her in a bad mood. They totally had that riff off. Of course the stupid Legacy couldn’t think of any 90s songs. Wait, she had to, wasn’t she like, _born_ in the 90s?

“You shouldn’t have done that Emily,” Chloe snaps, anger fueling her words as they all walk off to the side. She turns to face the Legacy and Beca. “Now DSM thinks they have the drop on us.”

Legacy’s eyes go wide and they look like a sad puppy. Chloe’s not amused. “I’m sorry. I panicked. I understand if you want me to crawl under a rock and die.”

Chloe considers that option as she turns away with her jaw clenched.

“Hey,” Beca says softly, rubbing the younger girl’s arm. “We don’t-” she stops mid sentence, noticing Chloe’s demeanor. “We don’t want that.” the brunette states almost like a warning, pointing a finger at her best friend.

Chloe narrows her eyes at Beca, forming a glare. She’s almost daring Beca to say something else. It’s a game they play when either of them gets angry. Someone tries to push and either they push back or back off and try to calm the other down. There’s tension for all but a second because their heated moment gets interrupted.

“Hey Becs, let’s go meet the Green Bay Packers!”

Of course Jesse comes out of nowhere right now. Of course. Chloe watches Beca’s lips turn into a full-fledged smile as she runs off with her stupid Treble boyfriend to meet the Green Bay Packers.

“Ugh,” she scoffs once they’re gone.

Emily’s looking at her with a confused expression but she shakes it off. “Forget it,” she mutters, storming off to find herself some kind of drink she desperately needs to forget about Beca for a little bit.

\--

Beca’s about to have a mental break down. According to her boss, she totally sucks. She’s spent hours on those mixes, making sure the sound was just right. She’s let Chloe listen in and give her opinion (which most of the time was just a positive comment). She thought she had it all figured out. But she doesn’t.

So she sucks, and has nothing original to produce. That’s cool.

Her plan is to grab her pint of ice cream and march straight to her - usually empty because Fat Amy’s MIA half the time - bedroom and try to figure out what the hell she needs to do to make _real_ music. She likes this plan and wants to stick to it, but it all goes flying out the window when Chloe’s casually studying in the kitchen with the pint of ice cream Beca wants.

“Hey Becs,” Chloe grins when she looks up from her notes, highlighter in hand. “Want some ice cream?”

Beca half-heartedly glares at her, slowly making her way over. “That’s my ice cream nerd.”

“And you pick the aca-best flavors.” She wiggles her eyebrows as she takes another spoonful into her mouth, making Beca rolls her eyes.

“Whatever,” she mumbles. “What are you studying?”

The older girl shrugs. “Nothing important. Where did you come from?”

She freezes for a moment before the lie splurts out of her mouth. “Oh, you know, out with Jesse.” Beca misses the way Chloe’s loses a little bit of her bubbliness. “I should go upstairs. I have a lot to work on.” She’s already turning around when Chloe’s voice stops her.

“Becs, are you okay? You look tense.”

Beca turns around, another lie coming out. “Uh, yeah, I’m totally fine. It’s just, you know, senior year. Gotta make sure I graduate or whatever.”

Chloe nods in understanding. “Need a neck rub?”

She laughs softly, knowing Chloe’s always willing to help her out no matter what. “Maybe next time Chlo.”

“Your loss,” Chloe sticks her tongue out at her, scooping another spoonful in her mouth. There’s a beat of silence where Beca just watches her and hides the smile that wants to show when Chloe manages to get some ice cream on her nose. “The set is gonna be great, you know,” the redhead states, breaking the silence and Beca’s little trance.

Beca blinks. “What?”

“The set for Worlds,” Chloe says, shrugging. “It’s totes going to be aca-awesome. You know I believe in you no matter what.”

Beca can’t help the smile that settles on her lips because Chloe’s just so wide-eyed and innocent and she just has so much belief in the brunette. It makes her even more guilty for hiding the internship from Chloe because she knows just how supportive the girl could be. Sometimes Chloe just knows when Beca needs help. She hates admitting she needs it, but with Chloe she never has to ask. The redhead’s usually already at her door, asking her what’s up and dealing with it the best she can.

It’s pretty awesome to have Chloe around.

She almost caves and tells Chloe about the internship and how she tragically sucks at making music. Almost.

Instead, she gives a tight smile she prays Chloe can’t see through. “Thanks Chlo. It means a lot.”

And it really does. It means so much Beca doesn’t even fully understand the warm feeling in her gut.

She’s still up hours later, trying to figure out this stupid new sample. In frustration, she considers calling quits and crawling into Chloe’s bed, listing all her problems. Instead, she calls Jesse. He’s reasonable. But he doesn’t answer. Beca rambles a bunch of nonsense to his voicemail and hangs up.

She’s wallowing in self pity when Fat Amy comes storming in, shoes in her hand. She’s talking some nonsense about smoothies and fourteen hours that Beca doesn’t really pay attention to because she’s too busy thinking about just how much she sucks. Fat Amy’s in the mood to talk tonight, though, and Beca tries to remain as vague and curt as possible so no more questions are asked. The blonde’s in the middle of comparing herself to a safe with a lock - or something like that - when Beca can’t take anymore.

“It’s fine, forget it. It’s all good,” she mumbles, looking at the ground.

“So this has nothing to do with the internship you sneak off to?”

Beca’s eyes widen as she looks back up at her friend. “What? Um.”

“C’mon Beca,” Fat Amy sighs. “You know how we do that thing every month where I take twenty dollars out of your purse, and you pretend not to notice?”

The brunette’s brows furrow together because no, she did not know. She totally wasn’t aware that was a thing. Is that a thing?

“I saw your ID badge in your bag,” the Australian continues, then gives her a look when she catches Beca’s expression. “Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not-I’m not mad actually...about the badge,” she clarifies, eyes still narrowed. “The money I wanna come back to…”

Fat Amy shushes her, moving from her bed to stand in front of Beca. “Let’s just focus on your lie.”

Beca blinks and stays quiet.

“Beca, why didn’t you tell us?” she asks, looking down momentarily before meeting Beca’s navy eyes. “Or at least Chloe.”

There it is again. A heaviness sets in Beca’s gut that she immediately recognizes it as guilt. Why is it such a big deal that she tells Chloe? Of course, the redhead is her best friend and she’s the one Beca will go to for everything (well, kind of. Beca doesn’t like to talk about feelings and stuff), but right now maybe it’s better if Chloe doesn’t know. She’s on the verge of breaking.

“I don’t know,” she admits with a small shrug. “There’s just so much going on and _Chloe_ would lose her mind if she thought my sole focus wasn’t winning Worlds.” The brunette looks down, blinking back tears. “Sorry,” she mumbles before rambling on and on about the fact she kind of sucks as a music producer.

Chloe would possibly have a mental breakdown if she knew her counterpart in this group wasn’t 100% there with her. Too bad Beca’s already breaking down for her.

\--

“Has anyone seen Beca?” Chloe’s voice sings through the kitchen as she trashes the apple core in her hands.

Stacie quirks an eyebrow with a slight smirk. “Isn’t she always with you, Red?”

Emily’s eyes furrow together as she looks between Chloe and Stacie with a questioning glance. She’s kind of clueless.

Chloe glares. “I hope the Hunter gets another rash.”

Flo coughs to cover up a laugh, sipping her sprite at the counter. Emily’s still confused. Of course she is, she’s new at this.

“Okay,” Stacie drawls out slowly, putting her hands up in surrender. “It’s a fact,” she mutters, shaking her head.

“Heard that.”

“What? You’re best friends, that’s all I’m saying.”

That’s definitely not all Stacie’s saying with the knowing look on her face. Chloe rolls her eyes this time, a trait she’d learned from Beca.

“I think I saw her working upstairs on her laptop,” Emily pipes up.

With another glare in Stacie’s direction, Chloe shoots the Legacy a smile. “Thanks Em.” She squeezes the younger girl’s arm gently before grabbing a pack of skittles and makes her way upstairs.

So maybe she’s a little frustrated today. Who wouldn’t be if Worlds was coming up in a month’s time and they didn’t even have a set list completely figured out? Chloe can’t do everything around here - which brings her to the point that she hasn’t seen Beca around much. She’s always disappearing. Chloe wants to believe she’s just out with Jesse.

Beca’s been pulling away from her lately, too. It took Chloe a good few years to get Beca to open up to her, but now feels like she’s putting her walls back up again, leaving Chloe feeling helpless. There’s hardly any cuddles or Netflix marathons anymore. Beca’s been so holed up in her room working on mixes or being out God knows where without her.

She doesn’t understand what she’s done to cause this, but she doesn’t to push Beca into talking about it. If she does, the younger girl’s going to run away like she does every time someone tries to talk to her about anything serious.

But seeing Beca’s fingers fly across her mousepad, Chloe’s whole body relaxes. She smiles a little, making her way over.

“Hey.”

Beca turns in surprise, but she gives her a tired smile. “Hi. Sorry I’ve just been working for so long I haven’t-” She’s silenced by the pack of skittles being tossed at her desk. “Thanks Chlo.”

Chloe shrugs, sitting next to Beca. “Do you need help with the set?” She’s still kind of freaking out about the set and if Beca needs help she’s more than willing to lend a hand.

“I uh,” Beca stutters, focusing on opening her skittles pack instead. “I decided to take a break from the set. It wasn’t - just wasn’t going the way I wanted.”

The redhead hums, hands running over Beca’s shoulders before giving her a light massage. “Stressed?”

Beca closes her eyes, leaning into the redhead’s touch. “Kinda,” she breathes.

Chloe admires the way every part of Beca visibly relaxes as she keeps going. Sleeping Beca and relaxed Beca are two things the redhead loves most in the world. Not that she doesn’t totally adore the alt DJ girl who thinks she’s too cool for everything. That Beca’s cute too. But there’s just some unseen beauty when the brunette lets all her walls down. Chloe likes it. She tries not to think about how much she wants to lean in and kiss her.

“So what are you working on?” Chloe asks a few minutes later, pulling her hands away.

“Um actually,” She bites her lip in a way Chloe finds absolutely adorable before continuing. “I was just uh, going through old mixes. You know, get inspiration or whatever.”

Chloe hums in approval. “You’re going to kick ass with the set when it’s done.”

Beca smiles at her - a real smile that Chloe feels like she’s the only person that’s witnessed it. There’s still so many questions the redhead wants to ask, but seeing Beca genuinely smiling makes all those questions disappear. It makes her stomach twists in all the ways it shouldn’t but she doesn’t care.

They’ll be fine.

\--

As if the Kennedy Center disaster isn’t enough for them.

Beca originally has a good feeling for this. She even lets the girls know as Cynthia Rose does her hair. Chloe starts freaking out about the possibility of failing, but really, when doesn’t she these days? And Beca wants nothing more than to get up and comfort her, but her head hurts from the braids in her hair and she’s possibly the most awkward human being on earth. She doesn’t do feelings and emotions, but watching Chloe almost meltdown in front of all the girls pulls at her heart strings.

As the rest of the Bellas begin to make their way to the stage, Beca notices Chloe hanging back. She hangs back too.

“Hey,” she starts awkwardly.

Chloe’s clearly near having a panic attack but she offers the smallest of smiles. “Hi.”

Even that smile is cute to Beca. Wow, she needs to get her shit together. “We’re going to kill it out there,” she promises, her hand instinctively reaching up to rest on Chloe’s arm. “Now get your butt out there Beale, they need us.”

The redhead visibly relaxes, and it makes Beca smile a little. She leans over, kissing the brunette quickly on the top of the head before skipping off.

Oh. Beca tries to ignore the fact she doesn’t mind it at all.

Except they totally didn’t kill it. Everything was going well enough at first, but then Beca notices the audience isn’t digging it. Like, at all - _especially_ when they bring out the props. Now her only goal is to make it through the performances, but then someone’s doing a flip into the wrong person and sends Cynthia Rose into the sparks.

“SHE’S ON FIRE!” Fat Amy yells, running towards her teammate.

Beca’s in the middle of singing, and just as she finishes her line she turns to see the mess happening. Cynthia Rose ends up on the floor, Fat Amy’s trying to put the fire out and someone’s rolling behind them. Everyone else is staring in shock and disbelief, unsure how else to help.

The young DJ’s hand rubs her forehead in frustration as the audience gives them a pity clap. _A pity clap._ She’s about to instruct the girls to go back to the dressing room when she looks over at Chloe across the stage. Her stomach drops.

Chloe’s staring at Cynthia Rose and Fat Amy is utter disbelief. Her mouth is wide open in a perfect ‘o’ shape and her eyes are just as wide to match. Her whole body’s shaking, and it’s clear she’s hyperventilating. This is about a thousand times worse than her reaction to Fat Amy exposing herself in front of the President.

Yup, definitely in deeper shit now.

\--

If this retreat won’t fix them, Chloe doesn’t know what will. She’s out of options for them. The convention center is the last straw so as soon as they get back to Barden she calls Aubrey. The blonde assures her spending a weekend at the Lodge of Fallen Leaves will help them find their sound and figure out what the hell is going on. Maybe Chloe also wants to figure out what’s going on with Beca. She just wants her best friend back.

So that’s how they’ve ended up in a tent, all crammed together in one space. Chloe doesn’t mind, really. It’s fun - like the sleepovers she used to have when she was younger. Also sleeping next to Beca is practically a regular thing now. Or at least it was. Until Beca started being so spacey and distant.

Fat Amy makes her way out of the tent to take care of business, deciding to use the tent as toilet paper when she realizes there’s no other option. Without her curious ears, Chloe decides to turn towards Beca, who pleasantly turns to face her with a scowl. She’s always thought scowling Beca is one of the cutest things in the world. She’s even told Beca once, who in return, stuttered profusely as she muttered a lame insult.

“What are we doing here?” she whispers angrily.

“We’re bonding,” Chloe replies easily. “You seem so tense. Do you need a back rub?” She reaches out and brushes a strand of hair out of Beca’s face. Yeah, this position could be pretty comprising; she hides a smile.

Beca moves her head away in a jerking motion, leaning away from Chloe’s touch. “Several body parts are touching my back now, thank you.”

“You know Beca, we’re very close, but I feel like this retreat is going to let us discover everything about each other,” she states confidently.

“Is that right?”

Chloe replies with a nod and a smile, and then she’s suddenly looking at Beca’s lips. She wonders - not for the first time - what they taste like. She wonders what would happen if she just simply leans in and finds out.

“You know, one of my biggest regrets is not experimenting enough in college,” she blurts out before thinking.

She throws it out like a dare, willing Beca to say something. Chloe knows Beca gets flustered when she pushes too much - hell, she found out that day she burst into the shower and demanded her to sing. For once, she just wants Beca to play the game right back when she’s sober. There have been way too many “almosts” with drunk Beca.

The brunette stares at her for a long moment. Chloe’s stomach knots up in the silence.

“You’re so weird.”

The older one doesn’t miss a beat. “Thanks,” she smiles despite herself.

“I wanna go home,” Beca whines before turning her back to Chloe.

She basically just got rejected by her best friend. That’s cool, she guesses. Chloe doesn’t even know why it bothers her. Oh wait, she’s in love with Beca Mitchell. Yeah, that’s it. She shouldn’t even expect anything anyway. Beca’s dating Jesse, just like she has been for like almost four years. Except Chloe can’t silently cry into her pillow tonight.

So when Fat Amy asks for help to, you know, get it going, Chloe’s the first one to sing.

“ _I’m all out of faith, this is how I feel. I’m cold and I am shamed, lying naked on the floor._ ”

She tries to ignore the way Beca covers her ears as everyone else joins in on their impromptu cover of Torn.

“ _Illusion never changed into something real. I’m wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is Torn._ ”

\--

There’s nothing in the world Beca hates more than waking up earlier than 10 AM. Everyone knows that. Even _Aubrey_ knows that. So when the blonde orders them all out of the tent at the asscrack of dawn, Beca’s already in a bad mood. Okay so maybe it’s not bad when Chloe keeps leaning on her and resting her head on Beca’s shoulder during breakfast. But still. She doesn’t want to be here. There’s a demo she needs to make and being stuck with the girls 24/7 for the next few days isn’t going to help her at all.

After a few hours, the activities are kind of fun. She misses spending time with the girls the way she did before the internship started. Legacy’s still weird, but she’s pretty fun when she’s not talking too much. Beca totally doesn’t like the way Chloe clings onto her like a koala as she tries to get across the log, even if her face is bright red. Yet as the day goes on, she’s kind of done with this “bonding” they’re doing.

She really doesn’t like the vocal activities Aubrey’s putting them through (with her stupid pitch pipe or whatever). It’s like her freshman year all over again. They haven’t sung anything from this century and Beca’s tired. She looks around to see Cynthia Rose is as done as she is, and notices the fatigue on everyone’s face. Well, everyone except Chloe. That girl could go on for days, Beca’s pretty sure.

They’re all out of breath when Aubrey ends it, bent over and panting as if they’d gone for a five mile run.

“Okay,” Aubrey scrunches her nose. “Well that was two steps away from being almost fine.”

“Sorry, what are we doing?” Beca asks, hands on her hips.

The answer comes from Chloe behind her. “We’re rediscovering our sound,” she says as if it’s obvious.

“Are we? ‘Cause it seems like we’re just singing songs that would never go in our set.”

“Beca come on,” Chloe tries.

Beca won’t have it. “No, none of us know how to beat Das Sound Machine, but I know it’s not gonna be by doing this!”

Aubrey goes off on an explanation of how this just helps them find harmony and how “sometimes you have to break things down before you can build them back up.” God dammit, Beca really hates the tone she uses. Definitely not missing her freshman year as a Bella.

“I’ve got more important things to do!” Beca exclaims, throwing her hands up in frustration as Aubrey barely gets her last words out.

The rest of the Bellas sense the tension and disperse, moving towards the bench. Chloe doesn’t back down, naturally.

“What could be more important than this?”

“Nothing forget it,” she resigns, putting her hands up in surrender. She doesn’t want to fight with Chloe about this. She can’t tell her, not now.

But Chloe won’t take her shit. “No, you don’t think we’ve all realize that you’ve been a little checked out lately?”

Beca just stares at her because, oops, maybe she didn’t pick up on the fact that everyone else knew there was something up.

“Just tell her Beca,” Fat Amy says, patting her on the shoulder.

In reply, Beca just gives her the death stare because she hears Chloe behind her say, “I heard that. Tell me what?” Her voice wavers and a flicker of guilt passes through Beca for keeping the secret for the whole year.

The brunette just keeps glaring at her Australian friend as she tries to mumble a bunch of nonsense to cover up what she said. God dammit, why does she trust Fat Amy out of everyone? She turns back around and sees Chloe narrow her eyes.

“Listen,” Fat Amy says. Beca doesn’t turn around. “I don’t want you guys to fight. You’re Beca and Chloe, together you’re Bhloe and everyone loves a good blowie. So...”

At that, both Beca and Chloe look at her with a strange expression. Did she just compare them to a blow job? As Fat Amy walks away to join the rest of the girls, Beca faces Chloe. This is her best friend for crying out loud. It’s the least Chloe deserves, right? To know the truth? She’s tired of hiding it. She’s tired of the tension between them because Chloe’s high strung on World’s and she’s caught up at the studio. And she kinda misses falling asleep to Chloe’s breathing - not that she’d even admit that out loud, ever.

“Okay,” she finally says. “I’ve been interning at a recording studio, and a legit music producer wants to hear my work. God forbid I have something going on outside this group!”

“Okay, so why would keep something like that from us?” There’s a hint of hurt behind her words, but Beca doesn’t catch it.

“Cause you’re obsessed! You all are! We’re all graduating and the only person thinking about life after the Bellas is me!”

“What’s so wrong about being obsessed with the Bellas?” Chloe questions, her eyes wide and a little crazy. “This has been my _family_ for seven years!” Her voice cracks at the end, but it doesn’t stop her best friend.

“Yeah cause you’re too scared to leave! Sack up dude!”

By the reaction from the bench (thanks Cynthia Rose), Beca knows she’s testing her limits. Chloe handles Beca’s shit all the time, but even Chloe - sweet, bubbly, bright Chloe - has a line. For a split second, Chloe’s face completely falls. Beca’s definitely gone too far. But just as fast as it came, it’s gone and now all she sees is fire in Chloe eyes.

“Okay so you’ve been lying to us for the entire year, and now you’re just gonna flake out?! Now you’re gonna flake out when Worlds is right after graduation?”

“Oh my god!” Beca groans. “Enough about Worlds! I’m out of here.” She turns, walking away from both Chloe and the rest of the Bellas.

“Oh okay you’re just gonna leave now! You’re jus-”

“We all have to eventually Chloe! It might as well be now!” She turns to the others. “If you all knew what was good for you, you’d follow me!” She keeps walking, hoping the girls will follow.

“BECA THE SIGN!” Emily tries to warn her, but it’s too late.

All Beca does is scream before she understands what’s happening. Suddenly, she’s up in the air. Her life is flashing before her eyes as her heart rate hits an all time high.

“ _What the hell?!_ ” she screeches as everyone else rushes over. Everyone except Chloe, who takes her sweet time. “I’m seeing spots! I’m seeing spots!”

“Well, well, well.” God Beca really hates Chloe right now. “Look who needs our help.”

“Not cool guys!” Beca yells as she struggles in the bear trap. Fucking Aubrey and her stupid bear traps.

“What’s not cool is you taking your frustrations out on us!”

“Really?!” Beca exclaims. “That’s what you’re going to say to me right now?! Help me! I’m dying!”

The trap drops a few feet and Beca screams again. Oh my god, this is totally it. This is how she’s going to die. In a fucking bear trap at Aubrey Posen’s stupid retreat.

Why did she even show up to auditions again?

She hears voices beneath her, but understands nothing. She hears Aubrey and she hears Fat Amy, but she doesn’t understand words. All she wants is to get down from this damn bear trap. Fidgeting probably doesn’t help, but she’s doing it anyway. There’s no way down from what she sees.

“Okay, if I’m about to die I’m sorry! I didn’t mean any of the stuff I said!” She’s trying to find Chloe beneath her but her eyes are going everywhere and it’s hard to focus. “I love all of you awesome nerds and I love being a Bella. I’m just so stressed out right now!”

She’s about to cry and you can tell - which totally ruins her bad ass persona she’s attempted to keep up her four years at Barden - when the net drops again and everyone’s screaming. In the midst of the panic, she hears a determined and even voice. Chloe’s voice. She’s instructing everyone to do whatever she has in mind to get Beca down and all Beca can really think is how glad she is Chloe’s in her life. Good, sweet Chloe. She’s really regretting all those things she said to the redhead five minutes ago.

“Don’t worry Beca!” she calls up. “We got-”

And then Beca falls right onto Fat Amy. She struggles under the net, trying to free herself as fast as possible. As soon as her upper body is net-free she collapses onto her back, breathing heavily.

“She’s alive,” she hears Flo sigh in relief.

They all look up at see Lilly hanging upside down. What the fuck. They all stare at her for another moment before Chloe crouches down next to Beca, lightly brushing hair out of her face and then cupping her cheeks.

“Oh my god Becs, are you okay? Does anything hurt?”

“I’m fine,” she breathes out, looking at Chloe. Beca’s cheeks are on fire, and she’s so glad Chloe’s holding them so no one can poke fun at her.

Chloe immediately wraps her into a tight embrace, leaving Beca’s face to rest into her shoulder. The brunette squeezes her eyes shut and inhales Chloe’s scent. There’s a comfort there - despite being outdoors all day and being in mud - that makes Beca’s chest ache. Her arms wrap around Chloe’s middle and they hold each other for what seems like forever. It’s so long that she misses the way everyone - even Aubrey - looks at each other while the two are in their own little world. She hardly hears the blonde tell everyone to get cleaned up so they can get ready for dinner. All Beca knows and understands is Chloe.

Finally, it’s Chloe that pulls away. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispers, caressing Beca’s cheek gently.

“Me too,” Beca mumbles, staring into Chloe’s bright blue eyes.

She’s calming down from her little episode, but she still feels on fire. She realizes, she’s never felt any of this with Jesse. Everything with him is so planned and almost like a chore. It’s a routine thing to kiss him or call him every few days (if she remembered) and all that stuff. But with Chloe, everything seems to be so exciting and unexpected and new. The way her skin burns at the redhead’s touch, the way that just seeing the redhead happy makes Beca want to happy or at least never let Chloe be sad. There’s the way Beca always gives in simply because she’s Chloe, and the way she actually secretly likes to watch movies with Chloe because of the way the older girl rests her head on Beca’s shoulder or in her lap on hides her face in Beca’s shirt when she’s scared.

Every little thing that feels normal or platonic with Jesse feels ignited when she’s with Chloe. And that says something Beca doesn’t quite understand yet, but at least she’s aware of this realization.

“God you scared me.”

“I’m so sorry,” Beca says. “You didn’t deserve to be yelled at. I know how much this all means to you and-”

“No, you’re right,” Chloe insists. “I’m scared. I don’t want to leave.”

There’s something lingering in that sentence; Beca knows because it makes her stomach knot in a weird way she’s never experienced, but she doesn’t push it.

“I should’ve just told you about the stupid internship.”

“I thought I was losing my best friend,” the redhead frowns, pulling her hand away from Beca’s face. Beca’s cheek feels cold.

The guilt hits Beca like a truck. “I’m still here,” she promises, grabbing Chloe’s hands. “I’m didn’t mean to pull away. I was just so stressed with the demo and you’re worrying about Worlds and-”

“I know,” Chloe cuts her off, looking down at their hands. “but it’s okay. I’ll chill out a little, I promise. We’re good, right Becs?” She has a hopeful smile that makes Beca want to melt into a puddle.

Ew, who is she?

“We’re good Chlo,” she answers, smiling back.

Chloe’s smile breaks into a full grin as she squeezes Beca’s hands gently. “Let’s get you out of this,” she suggests. She stands up, then pulls the smaller girl up to her feet, freeing her completely of the net.

Beca doesn’t pull her hand away as they start walking away from the trap in the direction of the tent. She decides she likes the slow burn of Chloe’s touch.

\--

That night at the camp fire, Beca talks about her thoughts and feelings. Chloe highly approves. It’s good for her, to be able to open up freely.

Chloe’s in a good mood now. She can still feel the ghost of Beca’s hand in hers as they walked back to the tent to clean themselves up a little before dinner. As they walked, the two of them talked about the tiniest things, but to Chloe it’s the world. She’s missed this part of Beca. The one who goes along with whatever she was saying, and even joins in when she starts singing out of nowhere. That’s Beca, _her_ Beca. It takes her everything to keep herself from grabbing the small girl and kissing her in front of the tent.

She smiles as she watches Emily grow excited over the fact Beca wants to collaborate with her. The Legacy hasn’t said it out loud, but Chloe’s noticed how much she’s wanted to talk to Beca and get to know her. Chloe doesn’t blame her; Beca’s the most special person in the world.

And then Chloe’s talking about being afraid, and Fat Amy says it’s been kind of obvious. Then Aubrey pipes up and talks about her experience of graduating. She grabs Chloe’s arm - a little too tightly, in Chloe’s opinion, but that’s Aubrey for you - and quotes her father in yet another strange saying. Somehow, it makes the redhead feel a lot better about moving on.

She stands. “Then it’s decided. This year I will graduate,” she announces, looking at all her Bellas, her sisters. “The Worlds will be my swan song. I mean it,” she continues. “I’ll pursue my passion. I’ll teach underprivileged children how to sing, or I’ll dance exotically - whatever offers the most money.”

Maybe she added the exotic dancing to mess with Beca a little, noticing the way the brunette’s eyes slightly widened and her eyebrows raised. Chloe smiles, content with letting it off her chest before sitting down.

They all launch into stories of what they’re going to do after graduation, and for the first time, Chloe’s excited about the possibilities after the Bellas. Until Beca gets emotional about being a Bella and leaving; it’s strange because Beca’s the last one to get all sappy. Chloe finds it totally endearing.

“It makes me really sad to think it won’t ever be like this again,” Beca admits, looking down at her hands. “I’m gonna miss you guys.”

“Me too,” Cynthia Rose and Stacie echo.

“Yeah, me too.”

They all sit in silence for a moment. Chloe reminisces on how this beautiful family around her began, and she can’t help it when she looks at Beca with light in her eyes. She remembers Beca’s audition. Despite bursting into her shower and forcing her to sing, it was Beca’s decision to show up to the auditorium.

“ _I got my ticket for the long way round..._ ” she sings, giving Beca a small smile.

There’s a wide grin on Beca’s face as she looks at Chloe. It fills the redhead with joy because of course Beca remembers. How could she forget? Four years ago with her ear monstrosities and a yellow cup, she made Aubrey give her a chance.

“ _...two bottle of whiskey for the way,_ ” Beca joins in. She rolls her eyes, but the smile is still ever present on her face as she sings. It makes Chloe so happy.

Everyone’s joining in, and Chloe’s trying her hardest not to smile because this is everything she loves about being a Bella, right here in this moment. She can’t stop looking at Beca as they sing, and she’s more than pleased to find Beca returning her gaze across the flames.

As they hit the last note, Beca’s gaze flickers once again to Chloe as a smile forms. The redhead feels her stomach bubbling because Beca’s never looked at her like that and it makes her feel a thousand things at once. She manages to smile back, missing the way Stacie looks between them knowingly with her bottom lip tucked under her teeth and Fat Amy looking at Chloe like the world’s most obvious freak.

“Did we just find our sound?” Beca asks, quirking an eyebrow up at Chloe.

“I think we did,” Chloe nods.

As they hold their gaze for a moment longer, Chloe’s not so sure if she’s talking about the Bella sound or something else with Beca.

\--

Okay, so she kind of uses the studio without telling her boss. It’s not like he’s there all the time, anyway. But whatever, she finally got the demo done and Emily totally had fun recording in a legit studio. It’s worth it to see Emily - an overgrown child, or excited puppy at best - take in the experience.

The best part is her boss actually likes it! He wants to work with it. This is absolutely huge, and the first person Beca wants to tell is Chloe. So she does without hesitation, pulling out her phone as Emily does an awkward celebration dance.

Beca gets a little disheartened when it goes to voicemail, but she leaves one anyway. “Chlo! Call me when you get this! I have to tell you something!” she rushes out, hanging up when she’s done.

“Come on! Let’s go tell the everyone!” Emily squeals, practically dragging Beca out the door.

Beca only laughs, letting the younger girl pull her all the way to the car.

“WE’RE BA-ACK!” Emily half sings-half yells as soon as she enters the Bella House. She prances around, trying to find someone in the house to tell the good news to.

The older girl lets out a soft chuckle, rolling her eyes and checking her phone for any missed calls or texts from a certain redhead. There aren’t any - just like there weren’t the past five times she checked.

“Where is everyone?” the freshman wonders aloud, finding herself in the kitchen with Beca.

“Maybe some of them are upstairs?” Beca suggests, opening the fridge and tossing the Legacy a bottle of water before grabbing one for herself.

They sit in a comfortable silence for a moment before they hear the door open and a bouncing redhead flies in with Stacie right behind her.

“Oh good you’re home!” Chloe exclaims upon seeing Beca and Emily in the kitchen. “I have exciting news!”

“So do we!” Emily all but screams, the excitement reaching her eyes.

Chloe hardly even hears her. Whatever it is, it’s big. Beca can tell by the way Chloe’s eyes and smile are so wide they’re about to burst with joy. She finds this expression to be similar to a look a dog has on its face when its owner comes back home after a long trip. It’s adorable, kinda.

“I passed my Russian lit final! I’m graduating!”

“She did it bitches!” Stacie provides from behind Chloe.

Beca’s water is long forgotten as she walks around the counter to scoop Chloe into her small arms. “Oh my god Chlo! I’m so proud of you!” she exclaims, squeezing Chloe in her grasp.

The redhead giggles, wrapping her arms around Beca’s neck. “I did it!”

“Yes you did!” Beca beams, pulling away to look at the girl. “I knew you could.”

“So what’s your exciting news, Legacy?” Stacie asks, quirking an eyebrow.

Emily looks at Beca, as if asking for permission. Beca gives her an honest smile and nods, encouraging her to go on and say it.

“So we finally recorded our demo today, and Beca took me to the studio to record it! It was so cool, like, it was a _real_ studio where Snoop Dogg recorded! Anyway, we took a few hours to get it done, but finally her boss listened to it and he really likes it and he wants to work on it!”

There’s a high-pitched squeal that can only be identified as Stacie, who wraps the young Bella up in a hug, ruffling the girl’s hair in excitement.

Beca’s pretty sure Emily didn’t pause at all when she spoke, or took a breath, but everything Emily exhibits is exactly what the DJ feels on the inside. Suddenly, she feels Chloe’s arms wrap around her center and pulling her in. There’s a possibility Beca could suffocate from how hard Chloe’s squeezing and go deaf from how loud she’s screaming, but the brunette finds she doesn’t really mind at all.

“Becs, this is so amazing! Oh my god! You’re going to be a producer!”

“No yet,” Beca laughs, looking up at Chloe. “Still have a lot of work to do.”

Chloe’s expression turns genuine and sober for a minute as she pulls away, looking at Beca with soft eyes. “You don’t know how proud I am of you.”

Beca rolls her eyes at Chloe’s sentimental statement while she tries to ignore how her knees go a little weak. “Chloe, I-”

“No I’m serious.” There’s something in Chloe’s tone that makes Beca stop. “You totes deserve this. That song’s going to blow minds, and it’s all because of you.”

“You know Emily wrote the-”

Chloe laughs - a full, genuine laugh Beca hasn’t heard in months - and her eyes crinkle at the corners. It makes Beca ache in a good way; she’s missed that laugh. “Take a damn compliment, Mitchell.”

The brunette sighs, smiling. “I guess.”

Everything with Chloe feels so good and right and easy now. It’s like they’ve finally fallen into the right place with each other. Except for the fact Beca really wants to lean in and kiss her, but she’s still dating Jesse.

Yeah, there’s that.

“Alright aca-bitches! Call the rest of the girls, we’re celebrating tonight!” Stacie announces, breaking them up from their little moment.

Beca laughs as Stacie immediately pulls out her phone, dialing away. She takes in the scene in front of her; she’s pretty glad she’s been stuck with this for four years. The young DJ doesn’t mind at all when Chloe keeps an arm around her waist.

\--

“Why can’t you ever smile in pictures?” Chloe whines, looking down at her phone.

It’s a cute picture, really, her arm stretched out to fit her, Beca, Emily and Stacie all into the frame. Except for the fact Beca looks like she wants to murder someone with the expression she has on her face.

“Why’s it so necessary to take pictures anyway?” Beca replies, crossing her arms. “It’s like, okay, we graduated?”

“For memories Beca,” the older one explains patiently.

“Or for all your social media needs!” Stacie adds with a wink before skipping off to God knows where, dragging Legacy along with her.

Beca rolls her eyes with a slight shake of her head. “Whatever.”

Chloe ignores her comment, instead looking down at the diploma in her eyes. It took her a few extra years, but it’s finally happened. She’s graduated from college and is about to start a new life after this summer. It’s weird how things play out. How she found a family and wasn’t ready to leave when she probably should have. How some little alt girl with sarcasm spewing out of her mouth and a look that said “stay away from me” could make her rearrange a few things about her future.

Said little alt girl notices Chloe admiring her diploma. “You did it, Chlo,” she says gently.

The redhead wonders what she did exactly. Failed a class she could now pass in her sleep three times in order to stay at Barden for a girl who was dating someone else anyway? To be reminded every day that she’s fallen deep for someone she can’t have? Chloe’s not sure, but she knows she’s run out of time. All those nights she’s spent crying into her pillow, wishing Beca would love her back at least a fraction of the amount she did. Every lingering touch, not-so-subtle move on Chloe’s part to drop Beca a hint. All of it, and she has nothing to show for. She’s missed all her chances.

But seeing Beca Mitchell smile in that way she only smiles when only Chloe is around was enough to keep the older girl around an extra three years.

“Yeah I did,” she nods, holding up her diploma.

“I’m real proud of you Chlo.”

“Becs, I failed on purpose. I can totes pass that class in my sleep,” Chloe reminds, waving her off.

“I know, but that’s why I’m proud.” Chloe gives her a confused look, encouraging her to go on. “You didn’t have to pass this time. You could’ve failed again, but you didn’t. You’re moving on, and that’s not a bad thing at all.”

Beca’s voice is low and so genuine that it makes Chloe look at her for a long moment. Her insides feel all warm, and she curses herself at how easily Beca Mitchell can put her into a frenzy. It’s become more recent now; the warm feeling building and the way Beca doesn’t shy away from these kinds of moments. Chloe doesn’t understand it, doesn’t know what could change - Beca’s still dating Jesse. He’s not around often, but he’s still there and that’s enough to Chloe to know Beca isn’t interested in being with her.

But still. The way Beca’s looking at her is hard to ignore.

“Guys!”

Emily pops out of nowhere, causing the two to almost jump in surprise.

“Are we going out to eat? Flo wants to know and then Fat Amy ran off with Bumper and everyone’s all over the place-”

Chloe laughs, shaking her head. “Yes, we’ll go out to eat now. Let Fat Amy be, she’s living her life.”

“As long as they’re not doing it in public,” Beca mutters under her breath, leading to a soft elbow in her ribs by Chloe.

“Hey Em! Can you take our picture?” Chloe asks, handing over her phone.

“We’ve already taken like a million pictures already!” Beca whines, shoulders drooping.

The redhead only smiles at her, finding this image of Beca particularly adorable. “But you aren’t even smiling in any of them!”

“I don’t wanna smile!” she almost growls in response.

Chloe pouts, her eyes big and wide in the way she knows Beca can’t resist. “Just smile this once. Then I won’t force you into any more pictures.”

Beca ponders this for a moment. “Fine.”

“Yay!” The older girl squeals, clapping her hands together before her arms wrap around Beca’s middle, smiling wide for the camera.

Beca lets out a grunt in response, but after a moment she relaxes, her arm wrapping around Chloe’s back, pulling her in a little closer. Chloe tries not to let her smile get any wider at the gesture.

And when she looks back at the picture, Beca’s giving this laid back, relaxed and honest smile Chloe figures can put the moon and stars up in the sky. She makes it her screensaver.

\--

Copenhagen’s pretty, Beca admits to herself. It’s not like beautiful to the point all she can do is stare in awe, but it’s not that bad of a place to be in even if all they sell is fish. Chloe takes them around to all the tourist spots she googled before their flight, making sure to leave time for food and rest because they only have one day before the competition and she doesn’t want to tire them out.  Beca finds it kind of adorable how Chloe’s eyes light up when she recognizes a place she’s read about on traveling websites and excitedly explains the significance to all the girls.

She spends the day rotating from under Emily and Chloe’s umbrella, refusing to succumb to buying one herself because she forgot hers back at home. It’s fine until Beca can’t stop thinking about every lingering touch between her and Chloe every time she ends up under the redhead’s umbrella. She doesn’t stop the older girl from holding her hand as they walk to their new destination; in fact, she hopes Chloe does it every time. It’s frightening how much Beca finds the longer she’s around the redhead, she gets the urge pull her around the corner away from the girls and kiss her.

Strange how being in a foreign place makes every little problem go away. Like, you know, a boyfriend. If she could even call Jesse that anymore. She’s hardly seen him since graduation, and talked to him almost even less than that. But they’re still technically together. Beca’s still at the Bella house and Jesse’s getting ready to move to New York for an internship with some big shots who score movies; there’s just not enough time to see each other.

She should miss him, shouldn’t she? In normal relationships, you shouldn’t be able to go weeks, much less days, without being in contact with the one you care about. Yet she’s found herself constantly in contact with Chloe. If they’re not together or with the Bellas, they’re sending each other dumb snapchats throughout the day. They’re making plans for dinner or breakfast or just to hang out. Beca falls asleep to the steady breathing next to her every night.

Oh my god. She’s totally more domestic with Chloe than she is with Jesse. What the aca-hell.

“Becs go to sleep,” Chloe groans from her bed. “Worlds is tomorrow and you’re seriously making a mix right now?”

Beca lets out a noncommittal grunt, only half listening because she has her headphones in and she really wants to get this done. After a long day of sightseeing and trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with her and why she finds her best friend more like a significant other than her actual significant other, a mix of Girls like Girls and that one Taylor Swift song Chloe had kept humming throughout the day sparked in her mind.

The older girl turns, peering at Beca with only the light from her laptop as a guide. “Beca,” she tries again, this time sitting up. She gets no response, so she gets up, scowling, and makes her way to Beca’s bed.

“Hey,” a hand snaps in front of Beca’s screen and she blinks up, sitting Chloe sitting on her bed looking highly unamused.

She pauses her music, sliding her headphones off. “Chlo please, I’ll be done soon. I just really need to finish this.”

“If it’s not Worlds related it’s not important.” Chloe crosses her arms, looking determined.

Beca looks down at her mix, then back up at Chloe, whose eyes never waver. “Chloe.”

“Nope,” she shakes her head. “I’m definitely not hearing it. You’re putting your laptop and your headphones away for the night right now.”

“Or else what?” Beca questions, raising her eyebrows.

“Or else I won’t sleep in your bed tonight.” She quirks an eyebrow up with a smirk. Oh, Chloe Beale is good.

“Who said I wanted you to?” the brunette challenges, trying to downplay the fact she actually kind of really wants Chloe to sleep with her to ease both their nerves.

“You never complained before,” Chloe shoots right back. “Now, let’s get to it before I tell the girls how I got you to audition for the Bellas.”

The younger one grumbles, muttering something about “damn persistent ginger” as she saves her work before putting her things away. She can’t help but smile when Chloe has a triumphant smile on her face before crawling under the covers. Her arm immediately slings around Beca’s waist and as they both settle in, Beca’s mind plays that mix on a loop until she falls asleep.

They’ve totally got Worlds down.

\--

It takes Chloe everything she has - plus Beca’s presence and touch and just everything about Beca’s effort - to stay calm all day. It’s their last chance at saving the Bellas and her last performance with these girls ever. She needs it to be perfect. Everything she’s been so stressed about is only hours away from her.

As if it can’t get worse, when Chloe excuses herself to go talk to some of the people running the event, she swears she sees Jesse in line to buy some food. He’s got an American flag wrapped around him and he seems to be doing his own thing. Chloe just gawks because she’s pretty sure Beca never mentioned him showing up to the competition to support her.

Now that she thinks about it, Beca hardly mentions Jesse with her or any of the other girls at all.

So when she gets back to the girls, she sits next to Beca and asks, “Have you talked to Jesse lately?”

Beca furrows her eyebrows. “Um, not really.”

Well, that’s really confusing.

And it’s not any better when Beca runs back to the girls a few hours later with a flush-faced Legacy behind her, telling everyone how Benji came to support her and they totally just kissed twice.

“Focus on the performance,” Chloe mutters to herself, closing her eyes.

The light touch her on shoulder is all she needs to be remembered that she can do this.

With Beca Mitchell by her side, she can do anything.

\--

The bright smile Chloe has after they perform makes everything worth it. It beats their first ICCA championship and Chloe’s expression when she passed her final. This Chloe Beale right here is everything she wants to etch into her memory to replace those stomach dropping looks from their previous disasters.

They actually pulled this one off more perfectly than anyone could have imagined.

Being announced winners make her feel on top of the world. Except when she hugs Chloe, something’s different. She’s holding back and Beca knows it because Chloe can never control herself in moments of pure joy. But she doesn’t have time to question it because everyone’s swarming her and screaming and she loses Chloe amongst all her other Bellas.

“Becaw!”

Jesse finds her at the after party, swooping her up and giving her a kiss that maybe shouldn’t even happen anymore. Beca doesn’t turn around to look at Chloe; she’s afraid of what expression the redhead holds now. So she lets Jesse pull her away from Chloe and a couple of the other girls who haven’t taken the dance floor.

He’s telling her how proud of her and the girls he is, but Beca isn’t listening. She nods and smiles and laughs at all the right times, letting him lead her outside to fresh air. They sit on a bench, letting it all sink in.

Finally, Beca speaks. “What are you doing here, Jesse?”

“I came to support my girl.” His voice is so genuine it kind of makes Beca feel bad for letting him drift away.

She looks at him. “That’s a loose term now, isn’t it?”

Jesse looks confused. “Huh?”

“We haven’t seen each other in weeks,” Beca scoffs. “We haven’t even spoken to each other on a regular basis! We’re practically not even dating anymore.”

She doesn’t mean to be rude. It’s just that she’s had such an amazing time with Chloe in Copenhagen and the days leading up to it, and then Jesse gets to show up and confuse her all over again?

“I know,” he admits, looking at his shoes. “That’s why I’m here. Well, Benji wanted to surprise Emily, too, so I decided we should go together. We can fix this, Beca.”

Beca looks at him. He genuinely wants to fix this, and God the look he’s giving her makes her want to try. But she knows it won’t work. It’s a feeling in her gut she knows she has to follow. Things aren’t what he wishes they were.

“I don’t think we can,” she says quietly, chewing her bottom lip. “I don’t...I don’t feel that way about you anymore.”

Jesse doesn’t respond right away. It makes Beca bite her lip hard, hoping he’ll break the silence. She’s afraid to look at him, afraid he’ll blow up in her face. He flew thousands of miles to surprise her and try to make it work because he loves her. It’s a shame she’ll never love him the same way.

“It’s always been her,” he finally says, looking into the street.

“What?” Beca blinks at him in surprise.

Jesse shakes his head, looking up into the sky now. “I thought maybe I’d be enough, you know. Like maybe I’d love you enough for you to stop looking at her the way that you do.”

“Jesse, what are you saying?”

He looks at her, brown eyes wide and sad. “We were never meant to last as long as we did, Beca. I knew this whole time it was her. I just fooled myself to think it didn’t have to be.”

He’s known all along, she realizes. He’s seen the way she lights up when she gets a text from Chloe, or the way she’ll run late to their dates because of the redhead. He’s seen it all along, but yet he put up with her insisting she’s with him, not her.

“Dude,” Beca starts, but he stands and cuts her off.

“Don’t apologize, Beca. I’ll be okay,” he assures her. “Just don’t wait too long or else you could lose her. You look at her like she puts the stars in the sky. I hope you know she’s been looking at you that way too since she met you.”

He walks away and leaves Beca trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with Copenhagen.

\--

“Jesse and I broke up.”

“What? How? Why?”

“We weren’t meant to last. We’ve been pulling away from each other lately. No harm done.”

“What? I can’t believe this Becs! You guys have been together for like, ever. You’re like totes in love.”

“Maybe it was never him, Chlo.”

The conversation keeps replaying in Chloe’s head, the way Beca got drunk enough to talk about it and how drunk enough Chloe was to hold her and kiss the top of her head. It’s the next morning and she’s tangled in sheets and Beca’s sleeping comfortably in her arms.

Everything’s different now.

They’re world champions, but more importantly what she’s waited on for years has happened. Beca’s no longer dating Jesse, and with everything that’s been happening between them lately Chloe can’t help but feel a bit of hope as she watches Beca’s chest rise and fall ever so slightly.

Hope only grows when Beca wakes up and just looks up at her for a moment before mumbling a good morning and tracing the ladybug tattoo on Chloe’s wrist for almost five minutes without moving.

“Hey, why don’t you just move in with me?”

Chloe doesn’t mean to ask it so blatantly, but she always does so there’s no point in changing herself now. She’s hesitant, and she hopes to God Beca can’t hear it in her voice.

Beca, still a bit hungover, but well fed and hydrated, blinks at her. “Huh?”

“Well,” Chloe shrugs, watching Jessica and Ashley try to figure out how to use the vending machine in the lobby. “I bought an apartment in the city. I know you were just planning to stay with your dad until you found your own place, but Residual Heat isn’t too far from where I live now. We can split the bills and everything so it’s fair. It would kinda suck to live alone after being that Bella house for so long.”

Ashley punches numbers on the machine, but nothing comes out. Jessica tells her something about ‘wasting time’, but Ashley hits the machine in attempts to get her snack out. She fails. The silence grows.

“Okay,” Beca finally says.

Her answer surprises Chloe so much she turns and faces Beca with wide eyes. “What?”

“I said okay,” Beca repeats slowly. “As in, I’ll move in with you. Did you drink too much last night, champ?”

She chooses to ignore the question and instead let out a squeal. “Oh my god this is going to be great!”

“Oh no, what did I do?” Beca groans, but there’s a smile on her face.

“You love this,” Chloe says, motioning to herself.

The brunette shrugs. “I can’t argue with that.”

Her vague sentences drive Chloe absolutely insane.

\--

Beca’s been doing a lot of thinking since her breakup with Jesse. More than she’d ever like to admit, and even more so with the mix she started in Copenhagen playing through her headphones. She’s taken her time, but she thinks she’s finally figured it all out.

Maybe Chloe asking her to move in with her made it a lot easier to figure it all out.

She’s walking around the house, taking her time. Mostly everything belonging to the girls (except Legacy) is packed and ready to go, save for a few stray boxes here and there. When she sees Chloe leaning against her doorframe, staring into her now empty bedroom, she stops.

“This is really it.”

Chloe spins around and her features soften when she realizes it’s Beca. “Yeah, can’t believe we’re really leaving. We’ve had quite the life here.”

Beca nods in agreement and shrugs. “but dude, we’ve got our own apartment now.”

The redhead hums, taking a few steps towards Beca. “Yeah, I guess that’s kind of cool.”

“I thought I could get rid of you after four years,” she scrunches up her nose and laughs when Chloe lightly hits her on the arm.

“Shut up, it’s going to be aca-awesome,” she grins.

“Yeah it is,” Beca agrees, smiling back at her.

Chloe’s eyes are so bright and blue, and maybe she’s a little sad that they’re leaving, but Beca knows she’s excited for their next adventure. She’s excited, too. And it’s right there, in the middle of the hallway when Beca decides she’s done thinking and waiting and analyzing every interaction with Chloe Beale.

“What’s on your mind?” Chloe asks curiously.

“I kind of want to kiss you,” she states without hesitation.

The older girl’s eyebrows raise in surprise, but she doesn’t let it show in her response. “And what’s stopping you?”

“The odds of you not kissing back.”

They’re playing this game they’ve always played where they test the limits until they’ve reached the line. Except this time it’s Beca initiating and Chloe being two steps behind.

“I think those are pretty slim,” Chloe shrugs.

Beca takes a step to fill the gap between them. “Good,” she whispers, before leaning up and pressing her lips against Chloe’s.

She hates being patient and waiting things out, but kissing Chloe Beale is worth the four years of trying to understand and accept what she feels for her best friend. Her hands wrap around Chloe’s neck as the girl’s hands find Beca’s waist. It’s slow and deliberate and careful as if neither of them want to mess it up.

Chloe Beale is an actual piece of heaven.

Too bad heaven only lasts for so long in this household.

“Fucking finally!”

“Fuck off, Stacie.”

She can't wait to move into her new apartment.  _Their_ new apartment.


End file.
